STONE PELTING VICTIM SUCCUMBS

6 Booked For Murder, 4 Held

KHALID GUL

Islamabad (Anantnag), Mar 12: Police have arrested four persons allegedly involved in the killing of a 23-year old load-carrier driver during a stone pelting incident in Mattan area of this South Kashmir district.Riyaz Ahmad Khanday S/o Nazir Ahmad Khanday of Matipora village, who was seriously injured after being hit by a brick in a stone pelting incident in Mattan town on Friday, succumbed to his injuries at SKIMS last night. He is survived by his father, mother, sister and an elder brother.Doctors said that Riyaz had suffered severe fracture in his head and despite surgery his life could not be saved.“Riyaz had been hit by a brick and suffered from severe depressed fracture. He had contusion in his brain with edema both in his temporal and parietal region,” said Dr Showkat Zargar, Director SKIMS.He said that Riyaz was operated upon and later put on ventilator but his condition kept on deteriorating and couldn’t survive.Riyaz, according to his family members, was returning from Mattan after dropping a consignment of willow saplings there. “Riyaz left from his home on Friday at around 7 PM towards Mattan as he had to drop willow saplings there,” said Nazir Ahmad Khanday, father of the deceased.He said that it was curfew on Friday and as such Riyaz left late evening and was accompanied by three friends from neighborhood.While the police statement maintained that Riyaz’s load carrier was intercepted by stone pelting youth and was later attacked with stones, the family denied any confrontation between the two sides.“The boys accompanying Riyaz told us that after dropping the willow saplings, Riyaz started driving towards Islamabad (Anantnag) where he had to load some cement bags. But when he reached Tikibagh area of Mattan at around 7:30 PM a brick suddenly came from somewhere and hit his head, injuring him seriously,” said Nazir Ahmad.He said that after being hit by a brick Riyaz lost control over his vehicle and the load carrier rammed into an electricity pole and turned turtle injuring his colleague Nadim Ahmad Bhat who was treated in district hospital.Police, however, said that the load carrier was confronted by stone pelting youth.“On March 8, stone pelters started pelting stones on vehicles at Tikibagh area of Mattan who were defying the hartal call. One load carrier auto bearing registration number JK03C/7364 was stopped by these pelters and they started pelting on this load carrier which resulted in grievous injuries to its driver Riyaz Ahmed Khanday who later succumbed to his injuries,” a police statement read.Meanwhile a pal of gloom descended the native village of Riyaz as his body reached his home. Hundreds of people participated in the funeral procession of Riyaz. Later the body was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard amid tears and sobs.Taking cognizance of the incident, police registered a case under FIR number 12/2013 under section 147, 148, 149, 341, 336 RPC.Four people, all residents of Kralpora area of Mattan, have been arrested so far. “Two more people are wanted in connection with the case and efforts are on to arrest them,” police said.The people who have been arrested so far have been identified as 24-year old Muhammad Iqbal Najar, 18-year old Aamir Hussain Najar, Aamir Bashir Malik and Sartaj Ahmad Wagay.“The four arrested on March 10 have been remanded to police custody for seven days,” said DIG South Kashmir Vijay Kumar.He said that a criminal case registered at Mattan Police Station on March 8 has now being converted into a murder case after Riyaz’s death.DIG South Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, along with Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Farooq Ahmed Shah, and Senior Superintendent of Police Anantnag, RK Jalla, visited the affected family.The officials expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and handed over an amount of 1.5 lakh Rupees, including one lakh as ex-gratia and fifty thousand from Red Cross.“The ex-gratia under SRO-43 in favor of the family will be processed soon,” the DC told the family.

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